Late last year Peter Brush made it to the final of the BBC Radio New Comedy Award, a competition that has launched the careers of former winners Julian Barratt, Marcus Brigstocke and Josie Long. Unfortunately, Brush did not win and joins other also-rans such as Daniel Kitson, Chris Addison and Gary Delaney. Very good company, and one presumes Brush might be more comfortable being just out of the spotlight anyway; as a performer who lets his neuroses and awkwardness drive his performance, it may shatter him to be told he is the best at something.Brush is a strange mix of introvert and extrovert, naïve youth and old soul, confident and terrified – a duality that extends to the kinds of gigs he plays. While he's comfortable on a straight stand-up bill, he excels when given more rein to do whatever he wants, i.e. strange theatre pieces that explore the nature of storytelling with the use of poorly rendered pictures and a dictaphone. A natural for comedy, he tells us how he’d much rather be a folk singer.Influences:"From a comedy point of view, no one is better than Woody Allen, in my opinion, not only in terms of his substance, but his productivity is also quite inspiring. I’m coming to feel the same way about Daniel Kitson as well. I’m not just influenced by comedy sorts, of course. I sometimes wish I was Bob Dylan."First gig: "I’m not saying where this was, but I think I half blagged my way on to a pro line-up, and I really shouldn’t have been there. From a personal point of view I got one or two laughs, so I count that as a partial success, but that may not have been what everyone else thought."Best gig: "I don’t know really, but I like the ones where you have to work to win over difficult or sceptical crowds. It’s very satisfying to come out of a challenging gig with credit, whereas I sometimes feel like any idiot can do a ‘nice gig.'"Worst gig: "Any ‘nice gig.’"Circuit favourites in the Northwest: "I love the character comedy stuff that Lee Fenwick and Peter Slater do at SOS, it’s probably my favourite comedy night, I wish we had more of that type of thing. Also, Phil Ellis."Favourite venue: "Glasgow Stand. The room is shaped/sized very well, and the people that fill it have been worthy of that terrific club."Best heckle: "I don’t want to answer this question."Aspirations: "Essentially, always writing and doing bigger and better things."What would you be doing if you weren’t doing stand-up: "I’d like to think I’d be doing something else that I have an overly romanticised idea of, like being a travelling folk singer or something. Although the realities of the ‘on the road’ lifestyle (especially from a hygiene point of view) mean that in all likelihood I’d probably not be cut out for it. I hope I’d be doing something else with my ‘creative energy’ though, that I had some kind of route of escapism."Question from January's Spotlight, Gein’s Family Giftshop: Who do you think you are and where do you get off?"I am a very serious man. I don’t know where I get off though, I’m like a stranger on a bus in an unfamiliar town."Original article here: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/comedy/features/307048-comedy_spotlight_peter_brush

When we asked the Northwest comedy scene's movers, shakers and acid takers who their picks were for a big year in 2014, there was one constant in their replies: Gein’s Family Giftshop

PUBLISHED 06 FEBRUARY 2014

Already drawing comparisons to The League of Gentlemen, Gein’s Family Giftshop's skill comes from their exceptionally tight writing, their unflinching ability to turn a sketch on its head with just one sentence, and genuinely intimate performances that make you believe these idiots in P.E. kits are the characters they attempt to embody.A year hosting a comedy night at the now-defunct and much lamented Lass O’Gowrie pub in Manchester climaxed at the end of 2013 with a performance as part of a show at the Palace Theatre in the West End, handpicked by The Boy With Tape On His Face, where Gein's presented only one sketch but turned all the heads of those in attendance. Comprising four members (Ed, Kath, James and Kiri (not pictured)), Gein’s now look forward to another year on the rise after a move over the Irwell to Salford’s Kings Arms pub, and things are already looking bright after Ed’s former drama teacher just got an MBE, “so vicariously we’re all knights now. Except Kath, she’s a bitch.”Influences: “H. H. Holmes (The Chicago World Fair years), Russell Crowe, gentleman’s perfume 'Joop', and Sir Cliff.”First gig: “Square Hole Comedy in Sheffield, we were brought on as 'Sketch Comedy' as we didn't have a name. The audience were utterly baffled, the trip back over the Snake Pass was quiet.”Best gig: “We got to perform at the Palace Theatre in the West End at the end of 2013, Paul Daniels taught Kath how to mimic a bagpipe.”Worst gig: “A gig in Leicester where the loudest sound in the two-tiered theatre was the sound of Ed's penis missing a chess piece and then retracting back into his P.E. shorts.”Circuit favourites in the Northwest: “Lee Fenwick, Terry Beefsheen, Michael J Dolan, Harriet Dyer, Brooke WiIliams, to name many.”Favourite venue: “Korova Arts Cafe in Preston because they are relentlessly supportive and always have appreciative audiences.”Best heckle: “Someone winning the jackpot on the quiz machine during our Edinburgh show and walking away with more than we got in the bucket at the end.”Aspirations: “Get away with all them murders, then TV.”Question from December's Spotlight, Jayne Edwards: How do you come up with your material? “None of your fucking business Jayne. Shut your whore mouth.”

Stand-up and bodybuilder Jayne Edwards talks to us about performing in spite of anxiety, and enjoying a good cry-hug with strangers during other comics’ shows

PUBLISHED 04 DECEMBER 2013

Self-proclaimed as ‘The Nation’s Beefheart,’ 24-year-old comedian and semi-professional bodybuilder Jayne Edwards is a prolific performer on the Northwest comedy circuit. Bringing an awkward charm and some racy biographical excerpts, Edwards' comedic talents shine in spite of her timidity. At times she seems like a creation of Tim & Eric, with misplaced confidence and acts of sheer ridiculousness surprising audiences who initially took her as a strange introvert. A unique comic who tells us that the shyness is not an act, but something she has learned to bend expertly to her will.Influences:“1970s Bruce Lee-in-hell exploitation movie The Dragon Lives Again. Rhyl. Interviews with bodybuilders. Harper Lee. Talent shows. Failure. Our Lord.”First gig:“My very first gig was at the Lowry in Salford in one of the studios when I was 19. It went as well as a first gig can go, and, as it was such a blur, I’m just speculating. The guy I was seeing at the time was so impressed. I was like ‘w/e babe I’m so confident and funny I need an outlet for my personality’ but didn’t gig for another year because I was actually cripplingly shy.”Best gig:“I have a lot of gigs that I think of as my best gig, either for the performance or the overall atmosphere. But, basically, any gig where they buy my tea is the best gig ever.”Worst gig:“I drove to Scarborough for a gig above a pub. The MC’s mate came over and asked me for a word. He said that what I needed to do was talk about ‘women’s problems’ because then I’d get the women laughing, and then, to please the women because they want their sweet poon things (paraphrasing), the men would have to laugh as well. I was really grateful that he’d taken the time to come over and give me such great advice. JK, I wasn’t.”Circuit favourites in the Northwest:“Phil Ellis. Liam Pickford. Jack Evans. Peter Brush. George Cottier. David Stanier. Michael J Dolan.”Favourite venue and why:“Group Therapy at Gorilla in Manchester. It’s great to play and I had an amazing time when I got the opportunity to this year, but just going to watch is super. It’s a really nice atmosphere and they always get great acts on.”Best heckle:“A guy once farted in the middle of a pause in a comedian’s joke. It really put everything into perspective for me.“I never remember good heckle put-downs because I’m so ‘on board’ with the comedian and the atmosphere the heckle put-down creates. I go into a weird zone, like, I get high off the feeling of togetherness and victory. I just start crying and hugging everyone.”Aspirations:“Just to make ace stuff and for people to see it and go ‘that’s ace’.”What you'd be doing if you weren’t doing stand-up:“My nana says I could be like one of them supermodels, so probably that. Or, like, an assistant supervisor of a Superdrug or something.”Question submitted by last month’s Spotlight, Liam Pickford: Why do you hate geese?“They steal sandwiches.”

Comedian and ‘provincial gorgepot’ Liam Pickford identifies losing out to an Irish dancer at a talent show as the catalyst for his career

PUBLISHED 29 OCTOBER 2013

Liam Pickford is a 24-year-old stand-up from Ashton-under-Lyne who for two years has been confusing and amusing crowds on the Northwest circuit. Winning the Manchester heat of BBC Radio’s New Comedy Award in 2012 and in the same year making the semi-finals of industry springboard the Chortle Student Comedy Awards, Pickford has continued to impress in the early stages of his career. Here he gives us the sum of his experiences so far. And his opinion on dogs.Influences:"The soft, forlorn rumblings of the relentlessly stamping jackboot of time. Russian books. Wacky, weird, legendary, mad, sick, lush stuff what people who are poor say on the bus."First gig:"I did a talent competition when I attended university and they only put me through to the final because one of the jugglers did a racist ball routine. I lost to a girl who did Irish dancing in the final. I wish her all the very best. I went my own way on to the School of Facetious Answers. I think she's either on heroin or a witness protection programme. I can't say too much about it. The book will be out soon, though."Best gig:"The Comedy Store in Manchester the other month was alright. Jack Whitehall was there and let me have the last beer in the fridge, which is the least he could've done really. All the women came up to me after and said 'Hey, Liam, you provincial gorgepot, can I touch one of your right broad and gorgeous shoulders?' and I said 'Look, if you wanna see the ass, I gotta see the cash.' Then one of them swooned at my face as I leapt onto the saddle of my supercool, flash burgundy mobility scooter and careered into the canal like Thelma AND Louise. Both of them. At once."Worst gig:"Definitely Epsom Racecourse last Christmas. It was akin to standing bereft at the precipice of a cold, lifeless chasm of colourless fire. The audience just weren't ready for the soft power of my happy-go-lucky, cheeky, cuddly, cheeky, cuddly, Northern funster everyman persona. They just wanted dead baby jokes and more pâté. 'More pâté!' they cackled, as they mercilessly flung barbed insults like 'fat bugger!', 'dweeb!' and 'dumbo!' at my shot and shattered soul."Circuit favourites in the Northwest:"I like Jayne Edwards, Jack Evans, David Stanier, Rachel Fairburn, Danny Sutcliffe and Fern Brady. They're dead good."Favourite venue:"The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, which hosts the excellent Pigeon Hole comedy night, is lovely. It's like a nan's living room that's been spaffed on by a cock of pure future."Best heckle:"There's this bloke on the circuit who wears a papier-mâché dolphin mask and does fish puns. Someone shouted 'They're mammals!' at him. It's funny, informative and scientifically accurate. I don't really remember any putdowns as I'm too busy being a cuddly northern funster. I once ran at a heckler with a bin in Liverpool. That did the trick and gave people a thing to put rubbish in, which was nice for them."Aspirations:"I just want to be every household's favourite cuddly northern funster, and host Saturday night gameshows like Who's Hiding In Barry? andPunch the Pauper!"Cats or dogs:"Both move about which is awful, but it'd have to be cats. Dogs are terrifying. They might look cute but if you look at them for long enough, you get the feeling that they're thinking about woofing at your gran. Woofing the shit out of your gran."Original article here: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/comedy/features/306103-spotlight_liam_pickford